Putin's Strategy

I had dinner the other night with Americans visiting London.  I will preface this note with the information that they are Republicans, primarily driven by their interpretation of President Obama's handling of Israel.
The conversation started with a discussion of the quality of the presidential candidates. Their view is that after 8 years of "no foreign policy" they were very concerned that there was no viable candidate to lead us looking forward.
Now I don't think that Obama has not had a foreign policy but I do think that he is finding it difficult to present his vision to the American public in a fashion that wins him the respect of those who would rather have a more robust, visible military presence.
Instead I think his foreign policy is almost a form of intelligence agency "operation" which is actually quite effective and yet it doesn't require "boots on the ground" nor does it result (generally) in American casualties.
Mr Putin on the other hand is very happy to march onto the big stage and make aggressive, visible moves forcing President Obama onto what would appear to be the back foot.
I have written a number of times recently about my concern that the Putin's of the world are very willing to risk conflict predicated on the belief that most Western nations are not interested in yet another (Middle Eastern) conflict.
Putin plays this very well.  He has no Congress to heed.  Russian rules of engagement don't require its Armed Forces to actively minimise civilian casualties.  And his brazen actions would suggest that he doesn't care about world opinion.
Witness his attacks in Syria on government opposition forces as opposed to IS targets which to date has been met with much hand wringing by the West, but nothing more.  He is now suggesting that he will start an air campaign against IS positions in Iraq.
 I don't know but my concerns about Russian military creep seem to be being realised as I write.
But this time the Russians would be operating in an American sphere of influence.  The risk of "friendly fire" incidents would go up geometrically.  And Mr Putin would be forcing the Iraqi government to deal with Russia at the risk of upsetting the Americans.
Now everyone tells me that Putin's plan is to force the Americans to engage in high-level negotiations with the Russians to work out a Syrian/IS plan that gives the Russians an equal say.
My friends appear to be suggesting that they don't trust the Russians-indeed they have no love lost for them. They don't see them as valid negotiating partners.  And frankly at this point they think the only response is for the USA to fight fire with fire.  And yet I can guarantee that they are not warmongers.
I think they feel trapped and somewhere humiliated by Russia. 
This is not good.
I don't know what is going on behind the scenes and can only hope that we are on top of our game but it looks to me that a day of reckoning is bearing down on us, and that is frankly frightening.